Prince Harry said his stepmother Camilla was “dangerous” to the Royal Family when she joined “because of the connections that she was forging within the British press”.
In a new interview in the US, the Duke of Sussex, 38, alleged Camilla had an “open willingness” – as did the press – to “trade” information.
Harry also says he and William initially did not want her to marry their father, King Charles III.
He says Camilla, now the Queen Consort, posed a danger because of the need to “rehabilitate her image” after being referred to as “the third person” in Princess Diana’s marriage with then-Prince Charles.
“That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press. And there was open willingness on both sides to trade of information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her, on the way to being Queen Consort, there was gonna be people or bodies left in the street because of that,” he told Anderson Cooper on CBS’s 60 Minutes.
When asked why Prince Harry and his brother didn’t want King Charles to marry Camilla, he responded: “We didn’t think it was necessary. We thought that it was gonna cause more harm than good and that if he was now with his person, that – surely that’s enough.
“Why go that far when you don’t necessarily need to? We wanted him to be happy. And we saw how happy he was with her. So, at the time, it was, ‘Okay’.”
Prince Harry is expected to address his relationship with Camilla, 75, in his memoir, Spare, to be released on January 10.
He told Cooper: “If you are led to believe, as a member of the family, that being on the front page, having positive headlines, positive stories written about you, is going to improve your reputation or increase the chances of you being accepted as monarch by the British public, then that’s what you’re gonna do.”
Harry also addressed a statement the Sussexes put out condemning the tabloid coverage of their relationship.
Cooper asked “You write that your dad and your brother, William, were furious with you for doing that. Why?”
To which the Duke replied: “They felt as though it made them look bad. They felt as though they didn’t have a chance or weren’t able to do that for their partners. What Meghan had to go through was similar in some part to what Kate and what Camilla went through, very different circumstances.”
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He added: “But then you add in the race element, which was what the press – British press jumped on straight away. I went into this incredibly naïve. I had no idea the British press were so bigoted. Hell, I was probably bigoted before.”
Cooper then pressed the Prince on the issue, he asked: “You think you were bigoted before the relationship with Meghan?”
Prince Harry responded: “I don’t know. Put it this way, I didn’t see what I now see.”
The 60 Minutes interview premiered in the United States but will be available on ITVX from tomorrow afternoon.
However, the Prince’s media interviews have not finished airing yet. He has also sat down with Michael Strahan for an interview set to air on January 9 on Good Morning America (7am EST).
Spare will be available to buy from all bookshops and audiobook providers from January 10.
Buckingham Palace has been approached for comment.
